


I didn’t mean to wake you

by Phantomxlegend



Series: Percy Jackson one-shots :p [24]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Apollo Cabin - Freeform, Hurt Will, Hurt and comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Sibling Bonding, its Kayla comforting Will this time, kayla and will, more will angst, will angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:06:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24087088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantomxlegend/pseuds/Phantomxlegend
Summary: When sharing a cabin with your siblings, you have to be careful when you’re crying at night not to wake them.  Will isn’t careful enough.  Either that or Kayla is a light sleeper.
Relationships: Kayla Knowles & Will Solace
Series: Percy Jackson one-shots :p [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701808
Comments: 4
Kudos: 110





	I didn’t mean to wake you

**Author's Note:**

> And here’s the more Will angst because I can’t let it die. I want more Apollo cabin shenanigans.  
> Quick PSA: it kind of switches perspective between Kayla and Will a few times (which was accidental) but it might be confusing so sorry about that.  
> Anyways I hope I did good on this, it’s almost one in the morning and I’m surprisingly not that tired but I don’t know how to word things. Anyways, enjoy.

It was one of those nights again.

Will was stressed, he was doubting his skills as a leader and questioning his credibility as the head counselor of the Apollo cabin. He was overthinking things and remembering all his failures as a healer.

He didn’t even know what time it was but it was pitch black outside the windows so it must have been past midnight at  _ least _ . All he knew was that he had to stay quiet and his hand clamped tightly over his mouth wasn’t going to work very well much longer.

His entire body was wracked with sobs, tears streaming down his face as he tried to stay quiet or calm himself down, hopefully he’d be able to do both. 

Will wanted to scream, his breathing was short and erratic and he could only hear blood roaring in his ears. 

He gripped his sheets desperately, trying to find anything that could help ground him, so he would stop spiraling and his thoughts would just go away.

He stared up at the ceiling, his pillow was soaked from all his tears. How long had he been crying? An hour? Fifteen minutes?

Somehow over the screaming in his head, he heard Kayla stir in the bunk next to his. Will forced himself to hold his breath, to not make any noise.

But he could only hold his breath for a few seconds before it came out again in a rapid  _ whoosh _ .

Kayla sat up slightly, leaning on her elbow.

“Will?” She whispered.

Will hoped that she couldn’t see him, he probably looked unpleasant. He couldn’t even pretend that he was asleep, the next best thing was to pretend he was alright.

“Hm?” He responded shakily. His entire body trembled with the effort of containing his sobs and gasps. He had to calm down. He had to stop. He couldn’t let Kayla see him like this.

“Are you okay? What’s going on?” She rubbed her eyes sleepily, “why are you up?”

Will didn’t process any of her questions, his mind had started to go into overdrive. And answering questions from his worried half sister was not part of the overdrive feature.

“Will?” Kayla sat up fully, concern filling her tone. She could barely see in their dark cabin, but the moon gave enough light for her to see Will staring straight up at the ceiling, his hand clasped over his mouth. He was trembling and… crying? Kayla wasn’t sure.

“I—I’m… I’m fine,” Will’s voice shook, he didn’t sound fine at all.

Kayla swung her legs over the side of her bed and stood up, she moved to sit down at the edge of Will’s bed. Now that she was closer she knew that he was  _ definitely  _ crying. He cringed away from her, rolling over on his other side.

“Will… what’s wrong?” She asked softly, putting her hand on his shoulder. He tensed up a desperate sob escaping his lips.

“Talk to me… please. I'm your sister,” she didn’t move her hand, but Kayla wasn’t sure if Will even wanted to be touched right now.

“Go… go back to… bed,” he forced out, his voice high pitched, “I’m f—fine.”

“You’re obviously not fine Will. What’s gotten you so upset?” Kayla wished she had a better way with words, she wished that she knew how to get him to open up.

“At least sit up, please. I’m here for you,” she rubbed his shoulder gently.

“I—I can’t…” Will shook his head, pulling his legs up to his chest. He curled in on himself.

“It’s okay,” Kayla whispered soothingly, “a penny for your thoughts?” She hoped the phrase would come off as light hearted, maybe a little reassuring.

Will choked on his own breath and rolled over to face Kayla, finally.

“I just…I—I can’t… everything it’s—“ he tugged at his shirt desperately, “I don’t…”

His eyes darted around the room, taking in the scene. Kayla coaxed him to a sitting position, but kept one hand on his arm.

Will shook his head, he grabbed Kayla’s hand and squeezed it.

“I’m here for you, Will, don’t worry,” Kayla said. Will’s grip was painful, but Kayla didn’t dare try to take her hand away.

“Breathe,” she urged gently, rubbing his knuckles with her thumb. Even in the dark cabin Kayla could see that Will’s cheeks were red and his eyes were raw with still flowing tears.

“It’s too much…” Will gasped out, shaking his head. He was spiraling again. He could barely process the fact that Kayla was sitting next to him. Will squeezed her hand. He felt like he was floating, that if he didn’t try hard enough he would float away into the cosmos.

His chest was throbbing and it hurt to breathe, his shirt burned his skin but there was no way to get it off without moving very much. With his free hand Will tugged at his shirt collar.

“Breathe with me Will,” Kayla insisted. He tried to focus on her hand In his, her voice, anything that was right in front of him. Will didn’t like that Kayla was with him right now, she should be in bed sleeping, she shouldn’t be seeing him in this state. But he was also ever grateful for her presence.

Her obviously exaggeratedly slow and deep breaths were something to hold onto. Will knew that he should try to follow, but whenever he tried to take a deep breath, his lungs seemed to constrict.

“It’s okay, you’re okay Will.”

Could Kayla know when he was spiraling again? How could she tell? What time was it? Was Austin awake? Will hoped not.

“I—I’m sorry,” Will spluttered.

“Shh, it’s okay, don’t apologize.”

Will’s skin was crawling, he couldn’t breathe and his shirt was just too  _ restricting _ .

“Here.”

Gentle hands lifted Will’s arms above his head and the burning stopped.

“It seemed like it was bothering you, is that better?” Kayla asked. 

Will nodded, his fingers curled around his stomach but there was no fabric there anymore.

“I—“ Will could see his own chest rising and falling rapidly with each breath.

“Will, can you try and breathe in for four seconds?” Kayla asked, putting her hand back on Will’s forearm. He appreciated the gesture.

Will nodded numbly and followed Kayla’s instructions, breathe in for four, hold for seven and out for eight. 

His chest still hurt, but he  _ could  _ breathe. He felt there were pins and needles in his legs. 

Kayla reached up and brushed some hair out of Will’s face. The gesture was touching.

“Kayla…” Will gasped out.

“You okay Will?” Kayla asked, she smiled weakly. Will sucked in a slow breath and nodded carefully.

“I’m sorry…” he muttered, suddenly ashamed. Kayla shouldn’t have seen him like that. She should still be sleeping.

“Don’t apologize,” Kayla insisted firmly. 

“I didn’t mean to wake you…”

“It’s okay, I’m glad you woke me,” Kayla said, “do you want to talk about what happened?”

Will didn’t need to think about that, he quickly shook his head. Kayla didn’t need to know about all the thoughts that ran through his head. She would think of him as an even worse leader than he already was. He knew that he wasn’t cut out for his position of head counselor.

Will wondered what would happen if Kayla found out how much he didn’t deserve his position.

A hand resting on his knee shocked him out of his thoughts. He jumped and looked up, Kayla looked at him with worry.

“Sorry, you looked deep in thoughts, I didn’t want you to relapse,” she said.

“You should get back to bed, I’m okay now. I’m sorry I woke you,” Will looked down at his lap, curling his fingers around his bedsheets.

“You should get some more sleep too,” she cupped his cheek in her hand, “we can talk about what just happened in the morning alright. Get some rest.”

Kayla stood up, giving Will a quick hug before returning to her bunk. She waited until she saw Will lay back down before she did as well. Letting herself fall back asleep knowing that it was alright now. 

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, I don’t know. Thanks for reading, there were two posts in one night because why not. Hopefully I get some other non Will or Solangelo ideas soon because I don’t want to annoy everyone with more Will spam. Thanks again for reading I love you all and goodnight.


End file.
